MAXIMUS ENHANCED IPC FILE EDITOR 2.6 ===================================== What's new in version 2.6 -------------------------- - Added tokens [node], [avail], [beep], [newline] - Who is On list contains Hex field - Send APB to available users only option - /P option now shows messages in same colour as sent in - Added tokens for all foreground colours - Toggle user availability - In the case of file access failure, it will skip file instead of abort What's new in version 2.51 -------------------------- - Display file to user - Messages list (/P) contains a Message Type field - Added tokens [name], [sname], [status] - Tokens can now be used an unlimited no. of times per message -------------------------- This utility views/creates/modifies Maximus BBS IPC files. Its usage is very simple. Make sure IPC.EXE resides in your Maximus Inter-process Communications (IPC)directory. To find out this directory, have a look in MAX.CTL for the "Path IPC" Keyword. This points to the IPC directory. Who is Currently Online ======================= Simply type: IPC.EXE /W Simple Creation/Modification ============================ For Creating IPC files, simply type: IPC.EXE [/A] Make sure to put the name/process and status in "inverted commas". The /A switch is optional. It's required if you'd like the User available for paging and broadcast messages. Retaining the current User\Process ================================== If you type only 3 command line commands (or 4 when using /A)..e.g.. IPC 20 "CHATTER" or IPC /A 20 "CHATTER" it will assume that the second switch ("CHATTER") is the status that you want changed, and the current User\Process will be retained. Toggle User availability ======================== You can toggle a user to be available or unavailable for paging: IPC /AA IPC /AN If "ALL" is typed instead of an actual node number, then all users will have their availability changed to the way specified. for Available and Not available respectively. Sending Real-Time IPC messages ============================== If you'd like to send a message to a particular user, type: IPC.EXE /M If you'd like to send a message to a user only if available, type: IPC.EXE /MA If you'd like to send a message to all of the users online, type: IPC.EXE /M[A] ALL Make sure to put the node number and message in "inverted commas". Colour tokens: By inserting an unlimited amount of colour tokens in the command switch, you can change the colour of the message in any way desired. The default colour is gray. The tokens are: [blue], [green], [cyan], [red], [magenta], [brown], [gray], [dgray], [lblue], [lgreen], [lcyan], [lred], [lmagenta], [yellow], [white]. Formatting tokens: [beep] - sends a beep to the remote terminal [newline] - moves to beginning of the next line You can optionally enter a tokens in the command switch and that token will be translated according to details in that user's IPC. tokens: Returns: [name] : Full name of user/process [fname] : First name of user/process [sname] : Surname of user/process [status] : Status of user/process [avail] : "Available" or "Not available" [node] : Node number Example: IPC.EXE /M ALL "[lred]Hi [yellow][name]! your firstname is [fname], surname [sname] " If there is only one word for the user/process i.e., no first name or surname, when such tokens are used they will be translated to that one word. Display a file ============== To display a file to any user, type: IPC.EXE /F or to display the file to all users online, type: IPC.EXE /F ALL For example: IPC.EXE /F ALL C:\MAX\MAX.DOC View IPC messages ================= To view the IPC messages that have been received or to be received, type: IPC.EXE /P The MsgType field shows the type of message sent. There are seven types: Page : User is/has been paged Enquiry : Chat channel enquiry Acknlge : Chat channel acknowledgement LeavCht : Chat channel leaving Chat : In Chat IPC : Normal IPC type message created by IPC Enhanced or the Maximus [apb] command File : File is/has been displayed to the user The Stat field signifies whether the recipient of the message has received the message(green **), is still unreceived(lightgreen **), no messages have been sent(darkgray **). ================================= This program is DESQview aware and releases timeslices for DESQview. This program has been fully tested with Maximus 2.02 and Maximus 3.0. ============================= *Common questions relating to Maximus IPC* ---------- .1. Q: Why would I want to create an IPC file? A: (1) If a user exits to any sort of door, Maximus changes that user's status to "Running External Program" in the Who is On listing. Other users online can't tell what this user is doing. IPC Enhanced allows you to edit the status of the user to reflect what that user is doing. e.g. if the user is playing the door game "LORD" then you can make it say "Playing LORD" or whatever else you'd like it to say in the status field. (2) You can show that specific nodes are being used for something else currently. e.g. a front-end mailer. ---------- .2. Q: How do I set up Maximus to act as stated in Q 1.(1) above? In a MEC file, say if you wanted have LORD run, place the command: [xtern_dos]c:\max\doorgame\lord\lord.bat %k Or in MENUS.CTL ... Xtern_Dos c:\max\doorgame\lord.bat_%k Normal "L.O.R.D." (%k sends the node number to LORD.BAT. There is no need to send the user's name to the batch file, because IPC Enhanced finds the user's name for you.) Assuming IPC Enhanced resides in your C:\MAX directory, this is what LORD.BAT could look like: @echo off c: cd\max IPC.EXE %1 "Playing LORD" cd\max\doorgame\lord begin.bat %1 ---------- .3. Q: Why don't I have any chatting or who is on functions, even though I've declared them in the MENUS.CTL file? A: The most common step that Maximus sysops forget when switching from a single line to a multiline system is to uncomment the "Path IPC" Keyword. This Keyword is found in the MAX.CTL file , and the directory points to the path where you want the IPCxx.BBS files to reside (and where you want IPC Enhanced to reside also). Remember to silt max. The next step is to set each task you want running to a particular node. This is done on the maximus command line: MAX.EXE -N -LMAX.LOG -E00 For example, to allocate the current task to Maximus Line 1, type: MAX.EXE -N1 -LMAX1.LOG -E00 See MAX.DOC for more details. ---------- .4. Q: What's the best place to point the IPC path to? A: The ideal location is a ramdrive. IPC files take a Maximum of about 200 bytes each so a small ramdrive will go a long way. Make sure you copy IPC Enhanced into the ramdrive every time you start up your computer. Put a copy command into your autoexec.bat file. ---------- .5. Q: Are there any other points to note about IPC Enhanced? A: (1) When you send an IPC message, wait at least 12 seconds before sending the next message or modifying any IPC files. Maximus reads the IPC files only about every 10 seconds or so. To check whether messages have been received type IPC.EXE /P or IPC.EXE /W. ================================= If you find any bugs, please report them to the internet email address below, thankyou. This utility is freeware, but of course if you want to donate a small sum to development of this and other Maximus utilities, I wont complain 8) If you have any questions or suggestions, please ask them via the Internet address listed below. Even if you want to tell me that you use IPC Enhanced, please do! ---------- Disclaimer: Use this utility at your own risk. I will not be held responsible for any damage or other loss caused to your system in any way. Maximus is a trademark of Lanius Corporation. ---------- Hope you find this utility useful. Nev Varghese, South Australia Internet: 9408430f@ntx.city.unisa.edu.au Fido-netmail: Neville Varghese, 3:800/816